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America Decides

President Obama has lost the campaign and his record has many holes. But he has done enough to earn a second term

November 1 2012, 12:01am, The Times

As the storm on the East Coast, mercifully, abates and the last stages of the presidential election resume, the overwhelming sense is that it was not supposed to be like this. The elevated rhetoric of the newly-elected President in 2008 promised to heal a divided nation. The world’s pulse quickened as America elected a President who, by his very existence, was an expiation of slavery, its most egregious modern sin. Four years on, the excitement has dissipated and the election is being conducted in a mood of disappointment.

This election campaign has been the story of an incumbent, Barack Obama, who may be on the verge of squandering a victory that, only a year ago, looked his for the taking. But the campaign has also…